Hello Dear Reader! We
are at that time of the year again. SQL
Saturdays are popping up all over the country, spring is beginning to give way to summer, and the planning for
SQL Saturday Orlando 2013, aka #SQLSAT232, is gearing up.
This year our team of unbelievable SQL Server
professionals
Shawn McGehee (@SQLShawn | Blog), Karla Kay (@karlakay22 | Blog), SQL MVP Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog), SQL MVP Andy
Warren (@SQLAndy | Blog), and Ben Cork are working to bring you an incredible
event.
Leading up the speaker track are myself and SQL MVP Rodney
Landrum(
@SQLBeat|
Blog). That brings us
to you Dear Reader. I need your help, I
need
YOU to submit to be a speaker
for SQL Saturday 232.
“So Balls”, you
say, “What is SQL Saturday and why should
I submit to be a speaker?”
That my Dear Reader is the $50,000 question. The short answer, let’s go make a little
history together.
COME MAKE SOME HISTORY
What is SQL Saturday?
From its humble beginnings, SQL Saturday was started as a way to give
back to the SQL Community. The statement
“give back”, is over used and often clichéd.
It is used to give meaning to deeds, when people have trouble justifying
“why” they did something with greater substance than going with the truth and
saying they did it because “it was popular to do”. True justification rolls off the tongue like
drops of rain water fall off leaves. In
this case, however, I find to “give back” fitting.
The professionals that assembled saw value in sharing
knowledge. Turning hard learned lessons,
production level victories, and new and unexplored concepts into group
discussions and learning. In the end it
created an amazing support group. We are
one group of professionals, which have a particular job. Sometimes we are on a
team, other times alone, the people we interact with outside of our field do
not often understand our challenges.
The one thing I hear over and over again from first time SQL
Saturday goers is, “I feel like I arrived at a home that I never knew I was
missing”. I share that feeling, it was
how I felt on my first day. My first was
SQL Saturday 49 Orlando
2010. You can see, I arrived late to
the party.
The very
first SQL Saturday happened
in Orlando on November 10
th 2007.
It was the brain child of Andy Warren.
There was only one SQL Saturday in 2007.
The concept was simple, get MVP’s, Authors, first time presenters from
the SQL Community, and put on a FREE day of training.
Six Tracks, Seven different time slots, and a total of 37
different sessions throughout the day and we had our first one in the bag. The very next Year saw
SQL Saturday 2 in Tampa,
followed by
SQL Saturday 3
in Jacksonville,
SQL
Saturday 4 back home in Orlando, and
SQL Saturday 5 (the first
one out of Florida) in Olympia Washington.
Five SQL Saturdays in 2 years.
Last year in 2012 there were 50 in many different States across the US
and 32 in other countries and US Territories, for a total of 82 different
events.
Now it’s time for SQL Saturday to come back home. Now it’s time for SQL Saturday Orlando. Once a year we do this. We come back home to where it all
started. It is fitting that Orlando is
associated with attractions from far across the globe. There is a magic here that draws us in (no
not just the Mouse). This is where it
all began and this is your chance to be a part.
I wouldn’t want you to miss it!
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
If you want to give a talk but don’t know where to begin, read
this blog I put together (
I
WANT YOU to Present at SQL Saturday 85).
I discuss Abstracts, how to write one, and how to put together an author
biography.
Once you’ve done that all you need to do is
click here to submit,
the call closes 7/23/2013 so get yours in now!
“So Balls”, you
say, “I already see some SQL BAD @$$es like
Tim Ford, Devin Knight, and Andy Warren have already submitted? What chance do I have?”
Not just good, but a GREAT chance Dear Reader! SQL Saturday not only has the goal of
educating people for free, but we grow local speakers. I was in charge of
speakers for SQL Saturday 85 and my mission was to give everyone a slot especially first time speakers. Rodney
and I have talked about this, it took longer to drink the beer than it took to
set our guidelines.
I want you to succeed Dear Reader, and so does the rest of
the SQL Saturday Team. If you have the
fire in your belly to go out and give a talk to a group of IT professionals,
newbie or Pro, you cannot find a better venue than SQL Saturday Orlando.
I hope to see you there!
As always Thanks for Reading!
Thanks,
Brad
